A Distant Promise – Mini-Chapter # 24
All things aged.
Even trees and rocks and the ocean itself, everything grew older. Time had a relentless way of reshaping the world around her. As a former time-traveler, she was more familiar with this concept than most.
Thus, it should not have surprised her that Sesshoumaru looked so different in this era. He didn't look old. Had he been human, he might have been approaching his middle-aged years. Still, whenever she saw the subtle lines on his forehead and between his eyes, it shocked her to realize that he was aging.
Slowly but steadily, the years had chipped away at the youthful taiyoukai's appearance, and now he seemed slightly more careworn, more experienced and mature. She could tell that he had frowned more than he smiled, and that he would be an extremely graceful looking old-man. Much better than her grandfather, anyway. Her grandfather shuffled and hunched his back. Sesshoumaru would never allow himself to do any of those things.
They were meeting in the middle of the day, in a noodle-shop close by her campus. The taiyoukai had bought her lunch, but he refused to eat anything himself, as usual. It made her feel slightly guilty to eat in front of him when she knew he didn't have a plate.
It also made her feel slightly guilty to realize that for weeks now, neither one of them had volunteered a single word about Inuyasha. The dog-demon didn't really know much about his half-brother in this time period, and Kagome was reluctant to discuss her relationship with a potentially mortifying audience member like Sesshoumaru. Her meetings with Sesshoumaru were valuable to her for other reasons. Like a plank steadying her in an ocean of uncertainty, he was a link to the past. It calmed her to see him mostly unchanged by the passing years – unlike Shippo who had drastically grown, or Inuyasha who had literally transformed into a human.
"Are you older than your Father…?" she asked, abruptly breaking the comfortable silence.
The question was vague. As old as his Father when? What point in his Father's life was she asking about? But she didn't want to be any more specific. She knew how the legendary Inu-no-Taisho had died, and she knew that he knew that she knew. Hopefully, her inquiry would be clear without broaching the sensitive subject of his death in a more obvious way.
Interestingly enough, however, he assumed that she was referring to a different point in the Inu-no-Taisho's life. "I am around the same age as my Father was," he replied steadily, "When he first fell in love with a human."
In a way, his answer said a great deal about his mentality. Humans focused on death – an ending that came too soon. It made sense that an immortal would emphasize other turning points.
With a blush, she ran over several responses in her mind. Sympathy would be unappreciated. Feigning ignorance would be impossible. Levity would be inappropriate.
Finally, she copied a page out of his book of non-committal, frustrating rejoinders. "Hm," Kagome answered, returning to her soup.
